The section of river where 17-year-old Christopher O’Sullivan got into difficulties and later died has been used by local swimmers for generations.

A 22-year-old woman has been questioned in connection with a frenzied knife attack on another in the grounds of an Ennis primary school.

Doctors working in emergency departments have warned of reduced opening hours and longer waiting times for patients amid fears of a 50% shortfall in junior doctor numbers next July.

Fire officers have expressed fears about overcrowding at one of the country’s busiest hospital emergency departments.

Two patients in their 90s in need of operations could not be dealt with at the Mid-West Regional Hospital due to staff cuts, the hospital confirmed last night.

A study has found that more than one-third of six to 12-year-olds admitted to the Mid-West Regional Hospital are overweight or obese.

A consultant surgeon at Ennis General Hospital who carried out three operations on a 39-year-old mother who subsequently died has denied poor performance.

The HSE could make huge savings if it streamlined payments made to priests providing chaplaincy services across its acute hospital network in the West.

The ISPCC has said a recent case of horrific abuse inflicted on a 10-month-old baby should serve as a reminder to people that abuse is still a current issue and not just an historical event.

A teenage mother watched helplessly as her partner slapped, kicked, punched and threw her baby around an apartment as if the 10-month-old was a toy.

MORE than 300 people were on trolleys in hospitals around the country yesterday as seasonal illnesses took hold and despite appeals for people to visit emergency departments as a last resort.

NURSES have suspended walk-outs which they have staged over conditions at the & Emergency Department (ED) of the Mid-West Regional Hospital.

ONE-in-five patients have to wait between 12 and 24 hours to be admitted through the A&E at the Mid-West Regional Hospital in Limerick.

NURSES in Limerick are set to take part in a third day of industrial action over concerns the facility’s emergency department is a danger to the public’s safety.

A DOCTOR is to face sanctions over his treatment of a GAA player with cruciate ligament injuries in the emergency department at Kerry General Hospital in Tralee last year.

A MAN in his 30s was fighting for his life in Limerick last night following an attack in which he sustained multiple stab wounds.

A crewman from a British fishing vessel has been airlifted to hospital in Limerick after suffering a suspected heart attack.

A man died after falling ill while in garda custody, the Garda Ombudsman confirmed today.

Planning permission has been granted for a 183-bed co-located hospital on grounds leased from Mid-West Regional Hospital in Limerick, private healthcare company Beacon Medical Group (BMG) announced today.

CONTROVERSIAL plans to co-locate public and private hospitals at six sites around the country are not likely to be affected by budget changes to capital allowance schemes.

A PATHOLOGY expert has reassured women that a needlestick test used in cancer diagnosis — criticised in the report into the misdiagnosis of Rebecca O’Malley — is effective when appropriately used.

AMBULANCE crews are to embark on strike action within the next month in protest at the Health Service Executive’s recruitment of private service providers.

HEALTH Minister Mary Harney will “robustly” face down her opponents in the Dáil tonight when defending the motion of no confidence arising from her role in the cancer screening crisis.

A six-year-old girl has died after being accidentally hit on the head with a golf club during an incident in Co Tipperary over the weekend.

The fatal shooting of a man in north Dublin has sparked a murder investigation, gardaí said today.

WOMEN with suspected breast cancer must have three experts check their test results before a diagnosis is made under new standards to be enforced.

HEALTH specialists have welcomed the appointment of 60 new consultant posts to hospitals that are making progress in tackling the A&E crisis.

WOMEN who underwent pregnancy tests at three hospitals in the midwest may yet find out they are pregnant despite being told they were not.

A BREAKDOWN in communication between two hospitals added to the trauma of a woman wrongly given the all-clear for breast cancer.

Angry nursing unions tonight vowed to pull all their members off hospital wards and health facilities for two hours next week.

A 19-year-old man has suffered a leg injury in a shooting incident in Limerick City.

WELL known Tipperary hurler John O’Brien was in a stable condition at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital last night following a road accident earlier in the day near Daly’s Cross on the Nenagh to Limerick road.

A TWO-year-old child with a previously undiagnosed congenital bowel problem died just over 24 hours after developing severe stomach pains, an inquest heard yesterday.

THE Limerick teenager shot dead late on Wednesday night was possibly a “soft target” revenge killing for an attack, earlier that day, on members of a city feud gang.

A 22-YEAR-OLD Limerick man fell from a third-floor apartment window and suffered horrific injuries yesterday.

A man is in a serious condition in hospital tonight after a shooting in Limerick city.

A GOVERNMENT initiative to free up beds in public hospitals by transferring paying patients to private hospitals located on the same campus has attracted just two proposals despite the lure of tax breaks.

THE overcrowded A&E department at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital in Limerick is being clogged up by non-urgent cases because GPs say they are forced to refer routine X-ray cases there in order to get prompt examinations.

PATHOLOGISTS have stopped doing post mortems at Nenagh General Hospital citing health and safety reasons.

Jimmy Woulfe

THE new radiotherapy unit at the Mid-West Regional Hospital will begin to treat cancer patients within the next eight weeks, it was learned yesterday.

JP McManus disclosed yesterday that the proceeds from his recent Pro Am golf classic at Adare topped the €30 million mark.

A teenage girl has died in an overnight car crash.